ODT 17 – October 5 – Frenchglen

Daily Miles: 10

Total Miles: 263

So much for stealth camping without a tent last night. Within less than an hour of going to bed, Beardoh woke up and realized that our sleeping bags were covered in frost. So, we got up and quickly put up our tent. Luckily the ground was perfect for our stakes, and it went up quickly.

This morning when we woke up, our sleeping bags were mostly dry (except the chest part of SweetPea’s, because she keeps her head in her sleeping bag all night and her breath makes the sleeping bag wet). Our tent on the other hand was covered in frost on the inside and outside.

We packed up and headed back to the road to continue walking. Not too long later, the topic of not wanting to continue in the cold came up. We had seen the forecast and it looked like the next few days would be good, but by the time we left the next trail town, the high’s were supposed to be back down around 37. Knowing we still have over half of the trail left, the prospect of continuing in weather that is getting so cold was really unappealing. It felt like we had to accept that winter has just come early this year to Oregon and we don’t want to backpack in the winter.

So, as we talked about it more, we decided to end our trip in Frenchglen. It is disappointing to us, as we have never quit a trail before. Plus, we have really enjoyed hanging out with Qball and JJ. While the ODT itself hasn’t been our favorite trail, we would probably have a different attitude about continuing or quitting if the weather was warmer.

In any case, after the decision was made, we didn’t really see a reason to continue the paved road walk to Frenchglen. We decided to hitch, but on such a quiet road, it took us awhile. We continued walking while trying to hitch. After four hours, the eighth car picked us up. They could only bring us within ten miles of Frenchglen, but that was good enough. When they dropped us off, we got picked up again within five minutes and brought all the way into town.

We are now waiting for Qball and JJ to come into town tomorrow. We’ll be able to say our goodbyes and give them info on where we had hidden the water caches before starting the trail. It will be sad to leave while knowing they are continuing on, but in the end it will be the best for us.